Rules of Engagement

NOTE: The rules and details listed here will likely be in turmoil over the upcoming future, so do not take all of the rules for granted. This message will be removed once the rules are finalized or until all minor details that were left out are put in.

Contents

Terminology:

(Some may not be listed on this page, but any that aren’t are usually for non-roleplay related objects. Abbreviations will usually be stated on those pages, or you can ask another user if the definition is not clear.)

(RP): Roleplay. This refers to the entire fictional contents and storyline which takes place on the Battleship Craft Navies wiki, and in a broader sense can refer to any fictional story told via people writing/playing the part of characters.

(OOC): Out of Character. This is used to denote that the content of a post or a section of a post is not being used as narration or speech by a character; it is the wiki user who is speaking.

(IC): In Character. This is used to denote that the content of a post or a section of a post is not the wiki user speaking, but rather is narration or the speech of a character within the context of the roleplay.

(IG): In game.

(BSC): Battleship Craft.

(WSC): Warship Craft.

(NC): Naval Craft.

(SWC): Shin Wei Chou Mod.

(Hansa): Hansa Mod.

(GM): Godmod: Breaking the laws of physics, controlling another person’s ships or installations without sufficiently advanced cyberwarfare, deliberately breaking Community Rules relating to weaponry or ship number limitations (number-spamming), et cetera. Godmodding is largely up to administrator discretion, but if a technology that would be considered godtech -- and occasionally, less than godtech -- does not have an adequate, well-researched scientific explanation (which does not necessarily mean it has to be extremely lengthy, though it is preferred to have at least some length to the description that is backed by evidence, as is meant by “well researched”), it is godmodding.

(MG): Metagame; using Out of Character-obtained information for In Character benefit, even if said character could not have possibly known said information.

(GT): Godtech: Technology that, depending on implementation, may be considered overpowered (roleplay-breaking) by the standards of the wiki and even by the individual making it, but they still want to have it. Therefore, for it to be acceptable within roleplay, the developer of the technology must willingly restrict its implementations and make said limitations standard to the technology itself as a whole, preventing it from being overpowered. If the user does not, the technology will be not allowed into the roleplay.

(DEW): Directed energy weapon. Generally speaking, a DEW could be a plasma weapon, a laser weapon, or a particle beam, but lasers are the most commonly said to be DEWs.

Rules and Etiquette

Community Rules:

Swearing outside of chat is not permitted.

Do not spam posts - use the edit button if you have something to add to a previous post.

Do not spam photos of real objects in the photos section of your navy. Please use real-life weaponry and equipment sparingly.

Flame wars will not be tolerated. Flame wars are topics that generally start as small debates, and escalate into large, non-constructive arguments and personal attacks. Disciplinary action will be taken against users who instigate or take part in flame wars.

Do not be rude or insulting to other community members. Constructive criticism is accepted, but any that is insulting or demeaning to the user may result in disciplinary action. Also, do not be a general nuisance by butting in to every single thread you can find and giving an opinion on something that is none of your business, or have no good constructive things to say about the topics.

When creating a navy or nation, try to keep the theme logical. Don't make a Minecraft Creeper Galactic Empire or a Walmart navy. In short, use common sense: What would realistically have a heavily-armed military force?

Do not overuse insanely large fonts. Spamming threads or comments with large font is very annoying, and if kept up, will be edited out and appropriate disciplinary consequences administrated.

On the subject of spam, it is forbidden that you try to sell or advertise any kind of merchandise on our wikia. It will count as spam and WILL be deleted. Continuous spamming of ads/trying to sell merchandise will result in a ban. Time varies depending on how many times you broke the rule.

On that same note, do not make multiple small edits. It clogs up the activity feed; instead, take the time to look over the page you’re editing and make all those changes at once.

Roleplay Etiquette:

A user cannot assume control of another user’s ships, installations, ground forces, or roleplay characters without consent from the user who owns them or sufficiently-advanced cyberwarfare technology at least one (1) stage more advanced than the cyberdefense technology of the target.

Should a user not make a reply in roleplay, the opponent must wait until a reply is made.

If a user is going to be away from the wiki for an extended period of time, it is recommended that they make a post mentioning this. This is not enforced in any way, but is highly advised for the sake of not slowing down roleplay unnecessarily.

A user cannot have, research, or create a weapon that is capable of killing entire fleets instantly. Battles must consist of alternating replies from the users involved to allow the opponent to respond, no matter how small the reply is.

Super weapons are not permitted. A super weapon is defined as something that is capable of destroying navies, nations, continents, or similarly large objects with a single shot.

Roleplay Rules

The introduction of new types of technologies must be voted on by the community if disputed.

Number spamming is not allowed. Number spamming is defined as producing extremely large numbers of ships/other forces(This also includes buildings and other construction projects) exceeding that which could be plausibly produced based on the economy/population of the faction in question.

Metagaming is not permitted. Metagaming is defined as using out-of-character (OOC) knowledge for in-character (IC) benefit.

To prove that a flying ship is capable of flight, an unedited screenshot of it flying in game must be provided.

If a formation of vessels utilize FTL technology to enter a battle, they will not be able to retain the formation they are in (Refer to Rules on Faster-than-Light Travel).

If a major discrepancy that threatens to break RP Etiquette is spotted, it must be reported to be an admin immediately. Admins must take immediate action against the violating user.

Any ships due for a significant refit, such as the installation of heavy weaponry or a major hull change, must also have these refits represented in-game.

Killing another person’s RP character is strictly forbidden unless the person controlling it allows it to happen(Temp, may discuss something else)

Technology

Examples of Godtech

(Note by Nova: May end up making this an entirely separate article from the RoE)

Advanced Metallurgy and Material Science(or the short abbreviations, AMMS, AM&MS, etc.), one of the most common and widespread technologies on the wiki, is technically a form of god tech, had it not been propagated so quickly shortly after it was first researched. The many advantages it provides to everything from ships to tanks is so numerous and advantageous, that, while for ships, it doesn’t really mean much(much of the advantages are already ‘assumed’ to be on a ship, regardless, and while armor can be made better, so few navies currently(as of time of editing) have it, that it really isn’t a big advantage), for tanks, it very much is extremely advantageous, and is now a requirement for any tank that wants to survive for any length of time without being overburdened by it’s armor. The armor initially in it is better than every composite IRL by a factor of at least 3, and makes normal rounds from conventional, non-special guns completely and utterly obsolete. Even normal HEAT rounds are completely ineffective: Even if fired from a gigantic caliber gun with ultra high penetration HEAT, the round may fail to penetrate the composite that is standard to most of RP. The HEAT resistance is unspecified(not used in RP, really), but the AP resistance is 5x the nominal thickness of the armor, usually.

Details on Faster-than-Light Travel

To traverse locations beyond Earth in roleplay for flying ships, faster-than-light travel is utilized. Currently, there are three different forms of FTL travel.

Warp Drive: Folds spacetime such that the “entry” and “exit” locations are near enough to each other to be easily traversed.

Slipspace Drive: The Shaw-Fujikawa Translight Engine functions by creating ruptures, referred to in some sources as wormholes, between normal space and an alternate plane known as slipspace. Ruptures are created by generating micro-black holes ,and entering the rupture before it closes.

Exodus Drive: Pops into other universes to have a quick jog around R’yleh, borrow a stick of butter from Nyarlathotep, and then pops back into our universe. Humor aside, the Exodus Interuniversal-Medium Travel Drive is capable of undetectable, uninterdictable Point A to Point B travel, but consumes an immense amount of power.

Despite that, there are hard limitations on what these drives are capable of doing. The current limitations are:

FTL drives are inaccurate, and are incapable of doing in system jumps accurately to within several kilometers, or out of system. This is due to the potential risk of exiting FTL immediately in front of the orbital path of the planet if done improperly, or any other solid object otherwise. To remedy this, for entering new systems, exiting outside of a star system is the safest way possible, and then traveling under sublight engines the rest of the way, though you can get away with getting in further if you know the general layout of the system you are going to warp into or are already in. But jumping into the planet's atmosphere will be discussed further down.

To perform a far more accurate jump within a star system without having to make preparations before warping as would normally be required, a warp beacon must be placed beforehand to allow the vessels to enter that general area. Warp beacons are a technology which must be researched.

Ships are incapable of remaining in formation when performing an FTL jump. Even when a beacon is placed, ships will end up in a disorganized cluster, with the possibility of ships exiting outside of the main group. When performing these in roleplay in a battle, a post must be made showing them entering a formation. There are ways to keep a fleet of ships in formation, though, but they will be required to be researched first.

FTL is not instantaneous. The fastest capable speed of a normal FTL drive is about 7.2 light years, unless otherwise stated. Exodus Drive, however, is “perceptually instantaneous” from the perspective of an observer within this universe; it is, in effect, a “point A to point B” drive.

To provide an example, one major system in Roleplay is the Epsilon Octanus system. It is estimated to be 10 light years away from the Sol System. By the speed of the drive, it will take about 1.3 days to reach Epsilon Octanus from Sol.

Atmospheric jumps are banned with FTL based on going FTL within normal space, due to it being physically impossible to stop there. Otherwise, it doesn't matter, as the ship will simply move the space around it and will pass through without harming it or the planet it is surrounding.

Some drives may be able to enter into the atmosphere(ex Slipspace drive, drives based on alternate dimensions, Exodus drive), but it is not recommended, as it may cause severe damage to anything around, nearby ships included, and sometimes even the ship doing it, if the drive can even accurately enter the atmosphere to begin with, which for anything larger than, say, a corvette or destroyer, is next to impossible. Exiting atmosphere with it is also not a good idea(same stuff happens. Of course, on planets with no atmosphere to speak of, this is completely fine.

These limitations are a recent occurrence, being the result of cumulative damage to spacetime caused by widespread use of warp drives.

This effect is referred to as a “warp storm” or “spacetime reconciliation”. Due to the sheer number of FTL drives in use in and out of the region, the fabric of spacetime has been damaged near permanently. This effect is within a radius of 250 light years from the Sol System, affecting any vessels within the vicinity.

Rules for Roleplay on FTL(summarized)

As stated in the rules above:

When using an Exodus Drive (or any other form of high-energy based FTL drive, for that matter), power reserves are drained entirely from the ship when entering and exiting a jump. This limits high energy weaponry, and cannot use FTL or shielding. It will take one post for all systems to come back online.

Almost all drives cannot keep ships in a formation by themselves. Ships will exit a jump scattered if this is the case. However, depending on the drive, this “inaccuracy coefficient” may be increased or decreased from the default benchmark of vanilla warp drives.

General Time frame guidelines for technology

This time frame may change depending on existing knowledge of the technology.

Minor: 1 week

Major: 1 month

GT: 5 months, if approved by the majority of the community to begin with. Exceptions may apply.

General Time frame guidelines for being able to use traded technology:

Carrier formula link

Common Roleplay Weaponry:

There are many different forms of weaponry used in roleplay aside from a normal naval cannon. Most of these are utilized by aerospace/space warships.

Projectile Weaponry: A term used for any weapons that utilize a solid projectile to inflict kinetic damage, ranging from rifles, cannons, railguns, and coilguns.

Lasers: Directed energy weapon that works off of doing damage via electromagnetic wavelengths. (Most common effect: heat melting through armor.)

Particle Beam: A type of weapon which functions by firing a stream of particles at relativistic velocities in order to damage other ships.

Plasma Weapons: Any type of weapon that fires a stream, pulse, or blob of plasma (i.e. extremely hot, very energetic matter). Weapons that fire canistered plasma also counts as a plasma-based weapon.

Magnetic Accelerator Cannon: A kinetic energy weapon that uses the coilgun principle to propel a ferrous projectile at high velocities. Referred to by most as a “MAC.”

Railgun: A kinetic energy weapon that propels a projectile by making contact with two or more charged rails and forcing it forward at high velocities by electromagnetic induction.

Spacetime Manipulation: A category of highly advanced weaponry which functions by manipulating the very fabric of space and time. Related to warp drives, except that it kills you.

Footnote 1: And 90% of Aneph technology isn’t even on this list. (Don’t so much as think of developing those either, though.)

Other Roleplay Equipment

(Not finished?)

Cloak: A projected “field” around a ship that, even at the lowest levels of tech, renders the ship or object invisible. However, other sensors may still be able to detect the cloaked object, requiring more advanced cloaking tech to decrease the possibility of being seen.

Shields: Shields are divided into two types, Type A and Type B. Type A shields provide complete protection until they either run out of power or absorb enough damage, but are active systems which must be activated. Type B shields, on the other hand, are passive systems that simply boost a ship’s toughness value by some static amount. They furthermore require power, but do not absorb damage like a Type A. Example: A Type A-shielded ship sits next to a Type B-shielded ship. The two ships shoot at each other simultaneously with the same weapons. The Type A shield takes damage and drops, but the ship underneath remains protected. The Type B shield allows the ship to take damage, however much the ship’s toughness is boosted, and therefore the Type B-shielded ship is damaged directly, though -- pending mechanics of it -- it might nullify certain types of weapons. The ones that do could also be considered a sort of ad-hoc Type A/Type B.